Where do you all sit on the Redskins Trademark Issue? | The Compost Bin | Forums

Better?

They are potentially in violation of the Lanham (Trademark) Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1052 : US Code - Section 1052: Trademarks registrable on principal register; concurrent registration

Federal trademark law does not permit registration of trademarks that “may disparage” individuals or groups or “bring them into contempt or disrepute.” The ruling pertains to six trademarks associated with the team, each containing the word “Redskin.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/us-patent-office-cancels-redskins-trademark-registration-says-name-is-disparaging/2014/06/18/e7737bb8-f6ee-11e3-8aa9-dad2ec039789_story.html

That said, they began as the Boston Redskins in 1933, while the Lanham (Trademark) Act took effect on July 6, 1947. I don't know if that would qualify for any kind of "grandfathered" status.

easytapper said
I would think 14 years would be enough to qualify for a grandfather status (or at least it should be).  But they've been in existence for 82 years, and now someone wants to do something about it??  BS imo.

I had hoped to come across something about what the law was at the time they registered, or at least mention of considerations of grandfathering, but found nothing.

Intellectual Property (IP) law was a subject of interest to me when I was younger. Now that I've been dealing with other legal stuff I've been putting much more energy into trying to grasp various legal subject matter in general.

It's time consuming so I need to pick and choose what I research, but this thread persisted long enough to prompt the research in the post above. -- That said, if someone wants to pickup where I left off, I still want those answers, but can't dedicate any more time to it myself.